Service deliver platform based support of interactions between next generation networks and legacy networks

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for allowing legacy applications to interact with new networks. According to one embodiment, a method for supporting interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network can comprise receiving at a service layer component a communication in a communication session from a first communication network. The communication can be in a first protocol. The communication can be translated from the first protocol to a second protocol with the service layer component based on the state of the communication session. The first protocol can be different from the second protocol.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims benefit under 35 USC 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/301,815, filed on Feb. 5, 2010 by Maes and entitled “Service Delivery Platform Based Support of Interactions Between Next Generation Networks and Legacy Systems,” of which the entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to methods and systems for supporting interactions in communication sessions and more particularly to allowing legacy applications to interact with new networks.

New networks, i.e., “next generation networks,” such as Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) networks and various IP-based networks have been and are being developed to support communication sessions and services related thereto. Various approaches have been developed to integrate these networks and services with various types of “legacy” networks such as Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and various other types of fixed and mobile communication networks. However, these efforts have been limited to allowing the new services to operate on or interact with the legacy networks. No approach has been developed to allow existing, legacy applications, i.e., applications written for a legacy network, to operate on or interact with the new, next generation networks. However, these legacy applications may still be useful and valuable. Furthermore, replacing or modifying these legacy applications to operate on or interact with next generation networks can be costly and time consuming. Such considerations can limit or slow the move to adopt next generation networks. Hence, there is a need for improved methods and systems for allowing legacy applications to interact with new networks and protocols or components thereof.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for allowing legacy applications to interact with new networks. According to one embodiment, a method for supporting interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network can comprise receiving at a service layer component a communication in a communication session from a first communication network. The communication can be in a first protocol. The communication can be translated from the first protocol to a second protocol with the service layer component based on a state of the communication session. The first protocol can be different from the second protocol.

For example, the first communication network can comprise the legacy network and the second communication network can comprise the next generation network. Additionally, the service layer component can comprise a Service Delivery Platform (SDP). The second communication can be provided to a component of the next generation network. In such cases, providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network can comprise providing the second communication to a northbound interface of an enabler of the SDP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network can further comprise providing the second communication to a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet of the SDP and the second protocol comprises SIP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network can further comprise providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Control Function (IM-SCF) of the SDP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network can further comprise providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Switching Function (IM-SSF) of the SDP.\

In another example, the first communication network can comprise a next generation network and the second communication network can comprise a legacy network. The service layer component can comprise a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) and the second communication can be provided to a component of the legacy network. In such cases, providing the second communication to the component of the legacy network can comprise providing the second communication to a northbound interface of an enabler of the SDP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to the component of the legacy network can further comprise providing the second communication to a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet of the SDP and the second protocol comprises SIP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to the component of the legacy network can further comprise providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Control Function (IM-SCF) of the SDP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to the component of the legacy can further comprise providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Switching Function (IM-SSF) of the SDP.

According to another embodiment, a system comprising: a legacy network, a next generation network, and a service delivery platform (SDP) communicatively coupled with the legacy network and the next generation network. The service delivery platform can be adapted to translate communications between a protocol of the legacy network and a protocol of the next generation network. The SDP can further comprise one or more enablers communicatively coupled with the next generation network and adapted to provide a northbound interface abstracting the underlying network technologies of the next generation network. The SDP can further comprise a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet and translating communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network comprises translating communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network to SIP. Additionally or alternatively, the SDP can further comprise an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Control Function (IM-SCF) adapted to translate communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network to SIP. Additionally or alternatively, the SDP can further comprise an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Switching Function (IM-SSF) adapted to translate communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network to SIP.

According to yet another embodiment, a machine-readable medium can have stored thereon a series of instruction which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to support interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network by receiving at a service layer component a communication in a communication session from a first communication network. The communication can be in a first protocol. The communication can be translated from the first protocol to a second protocol with the service layer component of based on a state of the communication session. The first protocol can be different from the second protocol.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of an exemplary operating environment in which various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer system in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating, at a high-level, functional components of a system for supporting interactions and services in a communication session according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating additional details of a system for supporting interactions and services in a communication session according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary use of the system of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating another exemplary use of the system of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form.

The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed, but could have additional steps not included in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination can correspond to a return of the function to the calling function or the main function.

The term “machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, wireless channels and various other mediums capable of storing, containing or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. A code segment or machine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, a subprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a software package, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures, or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another code segment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information, data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments, parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via any suitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing, network transmission, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a machine readable medium. A processor(s) may perform the necessary tasks.

Embodiments of the invention provide methods and systems for allowing legacy applications to interact with new networks and protocols or components thereof. Generally speaking, supporting interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network can be performed by using a service level component such as s Service Delivery Platform (SDP) as will be described in greater detail below to perform mapping and translation between the protocols of the legacy network and the next generation network. Additionally, and as will also be described in greater detail below, the SDP can be implemented in a manner to allow the SDP to abstract the underlying network technologies of the next generation network so as to allow the legacy applications to interact with or participate in communications with services, components, clients, etc, of the next generation network without needing to be aware of the protocols and other technologies thereof.

More specifically supporting interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network can comprise receiving at a service layer component a communication in a communication session from a first communication network. The communication can be in a first protocol, i.e., the legacy network or the next generation network depending on the source or originator of the communication. The communication can be translated from the first protocol to a second protocol with the service layer component based on a state of the communication session. For example, the service layer component can comprise a SDP as described herein. The second, i.e., translated, communication can be provided to a component of the one of the networks, i.e., the next generation network or legacy network depending upon the intended recipient of the communication. According to one embodiment, providing the second communication t to a component of the one of the networks can comprise providing the second communication to a northbound interface of an enabler of the SDP. In some cases, providing the second communication to a component of the one of the networks can further comprise providing the second communication to a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet of the SDP and the second protocol comprises SIP. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to a component of the one of the networks can further comprise providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Control Function (IM-SCF) of the SDP or a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Switching Function (IM-SSF) of the SDP. Various additional details of embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of an exemplary operating environment in which various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The system 100 can include one or more user computers 105, 110, which may be used to operate a client, whether a dedicate application, web browser, etc. The user computers 105, 110 can be general purpose personal computers (including, merely by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers running various versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows and/or Apple Corp.'s Macintosh operating systems) and/or workstation computers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX or UNIX-like operating systems (including without limitation, the variety of GNU/Linux operating systems). These user computers 105, 110 may also have any of a variety of applications, including one or more development systems, database client and/or server applications, and web browser applications. Alternatively, the user computers 105, 110 may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-client computer, Internet-enabled mobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant, capable of communicating via a network (e.g., the network 115 described below) and/or displaying and navigating web pages or other types of electronic documents. Although the exemplary system 100 is shown with two user computers, any number of user computers may be supported.

In some embodiments, the system 100 may also include a network 115. The network may can be any type of network familiar to those skilled in the art that can support data communications using any of a variety of commercially-available protocols, including without limitation TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way of example, the network 115 maybe a local area network (“LAN”), such as an Ethernet network, a Token-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network; a virtual network, including without limitation a virtual private network (“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switched telephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network (e.g., a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.11 suite of protocols, the Bluetooth protocol known in the art, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/or any combination of these and/or other networks such as GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, 3G, 2.5 G, CDMA, CDMA2000, WCDMA, EVDO etc.

The system may also include one or more server computers 120, 125, 130 which can be general purpose computers and/or specialized server computers (including, merely by way of example, PC servers, UNIX servers, mid-range servers, mainframe computers rack-mounted servers, etc.). One or more of the servers (e.g., 130) may be dedicated to running applications, such as a business application, a web server, application server, etc. Such servers may be used to process requests from user computers 105, 110. The applications can also include any number of applications for controlling access to resources of the servers 120, 125, 130.

The web server can be running an operating system including any of those discussed above, as well as any commercially-available server operating systems. The web server can also run any of a variety of server applications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java servers, business applications, and the like. The server(s) also may be one or more computers which can be capable of executing programs or scripts in response to the user computers 105, 110. As one example, a server may execute one or more web applications. The web application may be implemented as one or more scripts or programs written in any programming language, such as Java™, C, C# or C++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl, Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of any programming/scripting languages. The server(s) may also include database servers, including without limitation those commercially available from Oracle®, Microsoft®, Sybase®, IBM® and the like, which can process requests from database clients running on a user computer 105, 110.

In some embodiments, an application server may create web pages dynamically for displaying on an end-user (client) system. The web pages created by the web application server may be forwarded to a user computer 105 via a web server. Similarly, the web server can receive web page requests and/or input data from a user computer and can forward the web page requests and/or input data to an application and/or a database server. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the functions described with respect to various types of servers may be performed by a single server and/or a plurality of specialized servers, depending on implementation-specific needs and parameters.

The system 100 may also include one or more databases 135. The database(s) 135 may reside in a variety of locations. By way of example, a database 135 may reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) one or more of the computers 105, 110, 115, 125, 130. Alternatively, it may be remote from any or all of the computers 105, 110, 115, 125, 130, and/or in communication (e.g., via the network 120) with one or more of these. In a particular set of embodiments, the database 135 may reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”) familiar to those skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files for performing the functions attributed to the computers 105, 110, 115, 125, 130 may be stored locally on the respective computer and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set of embodiments, the database 135 may be a relational database, such as Oracle 10g, that is adapted to store, update, and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary computer system 200, in which various embodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The system 200 may be used to implement any of the computer systems described above. The computer system 200 is shown comprising hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 255. The hardware elements may include one or more central processing units (CPUs) 205, one or more input devices 210 (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.), and one or more output devices 215 (e.g., a display device, a printer, etc.). The computer system 200 may also include one or more storage device 220. By way of example, storage device(s) 220 may be disk drives, optical storage devices, solid-state storage device such as a random access memory (“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable, flash-updateable and/or the like.

The computer system 200 may additionally include a computer-readable storage media reader 225 a, a communications system 230 (e.g., a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device, etc.), and working memory 240, which may include RAM and ROM devices as described above. In some embodiments, the computer system 200 may also include a processing acceleration unit 235, which can include a DSP, a special-purpose processor and/or the like.

The computer-readable storage media reader 225 a can further be connected to a computer-readable storage medium 225 b, together (and, optionally, in combination with storage device(s) 220) comprehensively representing remote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or more permanently containing computer-readable information. The communications system 230 may permit data to be exchanged with the network 220 and/or any other computer described above with respect to the system 200.

The computer system 200 may also comprise software elements, shown as being currently located within a working memory 240, including an operating system 245 and/or other code 250, such as an application program (which may be a client application, web browser, mid-tier application, RDBMS, etc.). It should be appreciated that alternate embodiments of a computer system 200 may have numerous variations from that described above. For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets), or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed. Software of computer system 200 may include code 250 for implementing embodiments of the present invention as described herein.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating, at a high-level, functional components of a system for supporting interactions and services in a communication session according to one embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the system 300 includes a legacy network 310 such as a Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN), or various other one or more fixed and mobile communication networks. A legacy application or service 315 can be communicatively coupled with the legacy network 310 and can be adapted to provide services and/or interact with one or more clients (not shown here) of the legacy network as known in the art.

The system can also include any number of Next Generation Network (NGN) networks or resources 320-330. For example, such networks or resources can include various legacy applications 315 to interact with the NGNs 320-330. Generally speaking, a service level component can be used to provide mapping and translation between the protocol of the legacy network 310 and legacy application 315 and the NGNs 320-330. For example, the system 300 can include a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) 305 through which the legacy application 315 interacts with the NGNs 320-330. According to one embodiment, the SDP 305 can abstract the underlying networks and/or resources so as to allow applications and/or services to access the network, resources, services, etc. in a way independent of the underlying network(s) and or resource(s) and the technologies upon which they may be implemented. Such a SDP can be implemented, for example, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/357,653, filed Feb. 16, 2006, by Maes and entitled “Factorization of Concerns to Build a SDP (Service Delivery Platform)” of which the entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. However, it should be understood that, while described herein as implemented with an SDP, the use of SDP is considered optional and one particular embodiment. In such embodiment, the SDP provides a platform where translation functions and adapters for the different network and network resource can be implemented. It should be understood that these functions can be implemented without an SDP.

However, in such embodiments that use an SDP, the SDP 305 can include one or more enablers 340-350 communicatively coupled with the NGNs 320-330. As used herein, the term enabler refers to a reusable service layer component or components that provide an a function for use by others (other enablers, applications (i.e. services) or any authorized resource) through appropriate northbound interfaces. These functions may be implemented by network resources, devices or OSS/BSS functions. An enabler accesses these resources and/or functions via any mechanism appropriate for the resource. That is, a southbound interface is not specified as part of the adapter, so it can be changed from resource to resource. However, northbound interfaces provided by an enabler may be standardized. The enablers 340-350 can include any one or more of the enablers described, for example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/544,484 filed Aug. 20, 2009 by Maes and entitled “Charging Enabler”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/949,930 filed Dec. 4, 2007 by Maes and entitled “Call Control Enabler Abstracted from Underlying Network Technologies”, a media server control enabler as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/877,129 filed Oct. 23, 2007 by Maes and entitled “Network Agnostic Media Server Control Enabler”, an intelligent messaging enabler as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/939,705 filed Nov. 14, 2007 by Maes and entitled “Intelligent Message Processing” of which the entire disclosure of each is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Other types of enablers are contemplated and considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

Thus, the enablers 340-350 provide southbound interfaces specific to the underlying network technologies, i.e., of the NGNs 320-330, that allow access to the different networks. The enablers 340-350 also provide northbound interfaces that provide a way to compose, impose policies on, build application access, etc. the underlying networks and communications thereon. According to one embodiment, the SDP 305 can also include a translation module 335 communicatively coupled with the enablers 340-350, i.e., the northbound interfaces of the enablers 340-350, and the legacy network 310. The translation module can be adapted to translate between the northbound interfaces of the enablers 340-350 and the protocol of the legacy network 310. For example, the protocol of the legacy network 310 can be converted to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) by the translation module 335. In this way, the SDP 305 or other service layer component can be adapted to translate between the protocol(s) of the legacy network 310 and the NGNs 320-330, for example via translation module 335, to allow the legacy application 315 to interaction with the NGNs 320-330 or resources or other components thereof as well as applications 355 or services of the SDP 305 regardless of the underlying network technologies.

Stated another way, supporting interactions and services between a legacy network 310 and a next generation network 320-330 can comprise receiving at a service layer component a communication in a communication session from a first communication network. The communication can be in a first protocol, i.e., the legacy network 310 or the next generation network 320-330 depending on the source or originator of the communication. The communication can be translated from the first protocol to a second protocol with the service layer component based on a state of the communication session. For example, the service layer component can comprise the SDP 305 as described herein. The second, i.e., translated, communication can be provided to a component of the one of the networks, i.e., the next generation network 320-330 or legacy network 310 depending upon the intended recipient of the communication. According to one embodiment, providing the second communication to a component of the one of the networks can comprise providing the second communication to a northbound interface of an enabler 340-350 of the SDP 305.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating additional details of a system for supporting interactions and services in a communication session according to one embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, this example illustrates an SDP 305 which, as noted above, can be adapted to support interactions in a communication session as described herein. In this example, the SDP 305 includes a number of adapters 410-422 for providing an interface between the SDP 305 and any number of networks and/or resources of various types. For example, these adapters 410-422 can include but are not limited to one or more JCA 1.5 adapters 410 such as a Parlay adapter 411, a Diameter adapter 412, and others 413, an HTTP adapter 415, a SIP adapter 416, and one or more Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) adapters 417 such as adapters for INAP 418, CAP 419, WIN 420, AIN 421, and others 422.

The SDP 305 can also include an enabler framework 440. The enabler framework 340 can include an OSA application server 441 implemented, for example, in Parlay JR, Parlay X etc. The enabler framework 340 may additionally or alternatively include a SIP servlet container 442 providing functions such as a proxy, registrar, location services, etc. The enabler framework 340 may additionally or alternatively include a Signaling System 7 (SS7) server 443 adapted to implement or provide IP Multimedia Service Control Functions (IM-SCF) 430, IP Multimedia Service Switching Functions (IM-SSF) 431, and other functions.

Enablers of the enabler framework 440 can include but are not limited to: Messaging 446, e.g., application to person and person to application multi-channel messaging able to support email, SMS, MMS, IM, Voice Messages and SIP; Presence 452, e.g., Presence, XDM and RLS enabler functions that can be aggregated across multiple presence-enabled networks and sources; Call control 450, e.g., generic, 3rd party and multi party call control (voice and media) realizable on many network technologies application routing/dispatching independently of the network technology; Media server control 454, e.g., media processing, mixing and streaming control realizable against many network and media server technologies; Voice Access 448, e.g., inclusion of voice and DTMF dialogs in a call/interaction with a user; Web and mobile access (not shown here), e.g., multi-channel portal including associated supporting technologies such as device recognition, device repository, adaptation and delivery to multiple channels; Charging 444, e.g., service level on-line and offline charging including Balance check/tracking, pre-rated charges, delegated rating and rate inquiries; Device Management (not shown here), e.g., device and network resource provisioning, policy execution, enforcement and management providing functions such as PDP (Policy Decision Point), PEP (Policy Enforcement Point in either callable or proxy mode), PEEM (callable and proxy mode), PE.; and others. One or more custom enablers 451 can also be included or added. Providing additional/new enablers or extending them can be accomplished by developing new J2EE components with northbound interfaces, following the enabler principles and reusing the enabler framework functions or by developing new adapters using standard technologies and recipes (e.g. JCA 1.5, SIP, HTTP, etc.) to integrate existing enabler with new resources, protocols or network technologies.

The SDP 305 can include applications for providing or supporting VoIP services 456, a virtual PBX 458, a telephony application server 460, etc. The SDP 305 can also include applications for supporting or providing chat services 455, one or more custom services 460, content delivery 465, identity management 438, etc. As noted above, the SDP 305 can be adapted to receive a communication in a communication session from a first communication network. The communication can be in a first protocol, i.e., the legacy network or the next generation network depending on the source or originator of the communication. The communication can be translated from the first protocol to a second protocol, e.g., at the SIP servlet container 442, SS7 server 443, and or other components of the enabler framework 440. The second, i.e., translated, communication can be provided to a component of the one of the networks, i.e., the next generation network or legacy network depending upon the intended recipient of the communication. According to one embodiment, providing the second communication to a component of the one of the networks can comprise providing the second communication to a northbound interface of an enabler of the enabler framework 440 of the SDP 305. In some cases, providing the second communication to a component of the one of the networks can further comprise providing the second communication to the SIP servlet container 442 of the SDP 305. Additionally or alternatively, providing the second communication to a component of the one of the networks can further comprise providing the second communication to the IM-SCF module 430 of the SS7 server 443 or the IM-SSF module 431 of the SS7 server 443.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary use of the system of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, this example illustrates utilization of an IP-SCF exposure of the SS7 server 443 of the SDP 305 and an exemplary communication flow based thereon. In this example, an originator 501 or caller on one of a number of next generation networks 557, 554, and 555 can send a message 505 initiating the communication session, i.e., call the recipient on the legacy network 555. The message 505 can be received by the MSC server 507 for routing to the IM-SCF module 430 of the SS7 server 443 of the SDP 305. The MSC server 507 may also translate the message 505 from the originator to a message 510 appropriate to the IM-SCF module 430. the translated message 510 can then be sent to the IM-SCF module 430 which in turn receives and translates the message 510 from the MSC server 507, e.g., to a SIP message 515, to be forwarded to the SIP servlet container 442 and OSA application server 441. In some cases, the SIP servlet container 442 may translate the SIP message 515 to a call control message 520 to the OSA application server 441. The OSA application server 441 can in turn provide a call control message 525, for example via call control enabler 450, to a service, e.g., the virtual PBX 458, of the SDP 305.

The virtual PBX 458 or other service of the SDP can then process the call control message 525 and generate and send a return call control message 530 to the OSA application server 441, e.g., via the call control enabler 450. The OSA application server 441 can in turn receive the return call control message 530, translate the message 530 as necessary, and forward the translated message 535 to the SIP servlet container 442 and IM-SCF module 430 of the SS7 server 443. In some cases, the SIP servlet container 442 may generate or translate the message 535 to a SIP message 540 to be provided to the IM-SCF module 430. The IM-SCF module 430 can in turn receive the SIP message 540, generate an appropriate return message 545 based thereon, and send the return message 545 to the MSC server 507. The MSC server 507, upon receiving the return message 545 from the IM-SCF module 430 can translation to a message 550 and routing to the recipient of the legacy network 555 to initiate the communication or connect the call between the originator 501 of the next generation network and the recipient of the legacy network 555. The recipient of the legacy network 555 can then communicate with the originator 501 with appropriate translations performed by the SIP servlet container 442 and IM-SCF module 430.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating another exemplary use of the system of FIG. 4 according to one embodiment of the present invention. More specifically, this example illustrates utilization of an IP-SSF exposure of the SS7 server 443 of the SDP 305 and an exemplary communication flow based thereon. In this example, an originator 601 of a communication, e.g., a caller, on a next generation network 557 can initiate a communication involving a recipient 621 which may be on the same or different next generation network 501. Additionally, the communication may invoke or involve a legacy application 616 or service of a legacy network 556. To initiate the communication, the originator 601 can send an initiation message 605, e.g., a SIP invite message, to the SIP servlet container 442, e.g., via the SIP adapter 416 of the SDP 305. The SIP servlet container 442 can forward the invitation message 310 to the IM-SSF module 431 of the SS7 server 443 which in turn generates and returns an invitation message 625 to invite the recipient. The return invitation message 625 can be sent from the IM-SSF module 431 to the SIP servlet container 442 to be forwarded 630 to the recipient, e.g., via the SIP adapter 416.

Additionally, the IM-SSF module 431 can generate a request message 620 appropriate to the legacy application 616 to request the legacy application to join the communication. The request can be send to the legacy application 616 by the IM-SSF module 431, for example via an appropriate adapter 420 of the SDP 305. The legacy application 616 can in turn receive the request message 620 and respond with an appropriate acknowledgment 615 to the IM-SSF module 431, e.g., via the adapter 420 of the SDP. The legacy application 616 can then join/participate in the communication session between the originator 601 and recipient 621 with appropriate translations performed by the SIP servlet container 442 and IM-SSF module 431.

In the foregoing description, for the purposes of illustration, methods were described in a particular order. It should be appreciated that in alternate embodiments, the methods may be performed in a different order than that described. It should also be appreciated that the methods described above may be performed by hardware components or may be embodied in sequences of machine-executable instructions, which may be used to cause a machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purpose processor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to perform the methods. These machine-executable instructions may be stored on one or more machine readable mediums, such as CD-ROMs or other type of optical disks, floppy diskettes, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other types of machine-readable mediums suitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, the methods may be performed by a combination of hardware and software.

While illustrative and presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been described in detail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may be otherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claims are intended to be construed to include such variations, except as limited by the prior art. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for supporting interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network, the method comprising: receiving at a computer system executing a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) a communication in a communication session from a first communication network, wherein the communication is in a first protocol and wherein the communication is received by a legacy application executing in a service layer of the SDP; providing a second communication to a component of a second communication network; and translating by the computer system executing the SDP the communication from the first protocol to a second protocol with the legacy application executing in the service layer of the SDP based on a state of the communication session, wherein the first protocol is different from the second protocol, wherein the first communication network comprises the legacy network and the second communication network comprises the next generation network.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network comprises providing the second communication to a northbound interface of an enabler of the SDP.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network further comprises providing the second communication to a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet of the SDP and the second protocol comprises SIP.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network further comprises providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Control Function (IM-SCF) of the SDP.
 5. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the second communication to the component of the next generation network further comprises providing the second communication to a Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Switching Function (IM-SSF) of the SDP.
 6. A system comprising: a legacy network; a next generation network; and a service delivery platform (SDP) communicatively coupled with the legacy network and the next generation network, the executing a service layer application adapted to translate communications between a protocol of the legacy network and a protocol of the next generation network, wherein the SDP further comprises one or more enablers communicatively coupled with the next generation network and adapted to provide a northbound interface to the service layer application and wherein the one or more enablers abstract the underlying network technologies of the next generation network.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the SDP further comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) servlet and translating communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network comprises translating communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network to SIP.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein the SDP further comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Control Function (IM-SCF) adapted to translate communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network to SIP.
 9. The system of claim 6, wherein the SDP further comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service Switching Function (IM-SSF) adapted to translate communications between the protocol of the legacy network and the protocol of the next generation network to SIP.
 10. A machine-readable device having stored thereon a series of instruction which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to support interactions and services between a legacy network and a next generation network by: receiving at a computer system executing a Service Delivery Platform (SDP) a communication in a communication session from a first communication network, wherein the communication is in a first protocol and wherein the communication is received by a legacy application executing in a service layer of the SDP; providing a second communication to a component of a second communication network; and translating by the computer system executing the SDP the communication from the first protocol to a second protocol with the legacy application executing in the service layer of the SDP based on a state of the communication session, wherein the first protocol is different from the second protocol wherein the first communication network comprises the legacy network and the second communication network comprises the next generation network. 